The Indian Buddhist Iconography
by Benoytosh Bhattachacharyya | 1958 | 51,392 words | ISBN-10: 8173053138 | ISBN-13: 9788173053139
This page contains an iconography image of Four Dance Deities: Nritya and represents figure 208 of the book Indian Buddhist Iconography, based on extracts of the Sadhanamala English translation. These plates and illustrations represent either photographs of sculptures or line-drawing reproductions of paintings or other representations of Buddhist artwork.
Figure 208 - Four Dance Deities: Nṛtyā
Fig. 208: Nṛtyā
(Peiping)
There are four deities in this group and they are homogenous in character. These are Lāsyā, Mālā, Gītā, and Nṛtyā, all required in the staging of a drama or in entertainments. All these four deities are popular in the Vajrayāna pantheon and are described times without number both in the Sadhānamālā as well as in the Niṣpannayogāvalī. In the Chinese collection at Peiping statuettes of these deities are found. [...] They [viz., Nṛtyā] are violent in character with garland of severed heads, and dance in Pratyālīḍha. They show the Tarjanī against the chest as the common gesture.
4. Nṛtyā:
Colour: mixed;
Arms: two;
Symbol: Vajra.
The fourth and the last goddess in the Lāsyā group is Nṛtyā whose form is thus described in the Niṣpannayogāvalī: “Nṛtyā is of variegated colour and she dances with her two hands holding the Vajra”. Three statuettes of this goddess are noted in the Chinese collection. One of the three statuettes is illustrated in Fig. 208.